This world famous bock from Bavaria’s Holy Mountain is not meant to be rushed, but savoured slowly. As solid as a rock, Andechser Doppelbock Dunkel presides over the evening meal with a colour reminiscent of dark copper with nuances of fiery red. Its clear gleaming look harmonises with its firm, fine pored head.

Also the aroma delights the connoisseur: soft roasted accents and a nuance of dried fruit carrying a vein of caramel. This Doppelbock Dunkel from Bavaria’s Holy Mountain presents a pleasant effervescence. And then there’s the unmistakable flavour: mouthcoating and velvety, strong and yet pleasantly malty – a powerful, robust body. At the same time, it develops an easily recognisable sweetness, embraced in roasted cocoa and a light, bitter hoppiness.

Concluding with a powerful punch, this Doppelbock departs with a lingering aftertaste of quality plain chocolate. A strong Doppelbock that embodies the centuries old Benedictine brewing tradition, sip by delicious sip.

Goin' after some big fish here, the current top-rated doppelbock. Let's dance: It pours a dark-ish sienna topped by a finger of sandy khaki foam. The nose comprises dry toffee and lightly-toasted biscuit. The taste brings in more of the same, along with some light vanilla bean and watered-down cocoa. The body is a light medium, with a light moderate carbonation and a sorta/kinda drying finish. Overall, this stuff is about as painfully average as you can get. Something tells me it's all about unattainability here: Because this stuff requires at least an overseas trade or a vacation or a lucky hookup, it's perceived as better than it really is. (I call it Westy syndrome.) Sometimes, it's still good, but it's never nearly as good as reputations hold it to be. Huge case-in-point here. (829 characters)

Mouthfeel - Medium high-carbonation, watery, not the malty feast that a doppelbock should be.

Overall - I've heard rumors that this beer has gone downhill and/or has infection reports, etc., just wasn't sure how true/extensive it was. Though this wasn't awful, it was easy to see this isn't the beer it could or should be. Not sure if recent reviewers are obliviously blinded by its past reputation and overall rating or if I just got unlucky on this bottle, but either way, an unfortunate disappointment. (1,231 characters)

Deep reddish amber appearance with a layer of beige head. Nose is very malty with hints of smoke, cereal grains, a bit of vegetal character and some notes of corn. I get some aroma of dry dog food as well... Ehhh... Not so good. Taste has a one dimensional fruity sweetness with notes of grape. A bit of a tart turn at the end. Taste is a bit sloppy. Mouthfeel is moderate with light carbonation. Overall, not a huge fan. (421 characters)

Beautiful dark auburn color. A color I've never seen in a beer. Hardly any head.

Smells sweet and malty. Quite nice.

It has this mouth puckering sourness to it. Bitter and sour. Malty, it tastes a bit like liquor. There's a strong alcohol flavor, which is stronger than the percentage it contains, which I don't find pleasant.

Stings the tongue with carbonation. Not bad, but interesting

Ultimately I find the flavor too strange to drink extensively. It doesn't sit on my taste buds in a great way. (504 characters)

Pours a dark red colour, very Hellish with a bright shiny quality to it. Head is surprisingly light, but nice bubbling. Lace is amazingly dense and sticky. Looks heavy in some ways but the head is great.

Nose is very grainy and nutty. So much honey on that as well, it just reeks of honey oat bread and just is way too sweet, bordering on insipid. It's weak as far as complexity goes, and just simple. A disappointment.

Taste is better, but still big, sweet and grainy with honey-oat notes on the front. Develops more complex, and stronger, red wine characters towards the back but still falls short of pleasant complex sweetness. Bit of a citric twang late-mid which is the most interesting note cutting through a fairly insipid malt-bomb. I'm not a big fan of this style at times and this is a particularly simplistic example.

Yeah, I'm not particularly impressed with this. It's a malt bomb; it's quite plain. I don't like beers that are this sweet but this commits the double sin of lacking nuance or complexity. (1,100 characters)

I had some expectations of this beer. Bought it in Germany a few weeks ago. Poured the beer in a Palm glass. The beer gives a very nice lightbrown to red head with some red rings which come up!! Haven't seen this before. The beer itself is darkred rubybrown with a bit of carbonation.

The rest is average. The smell is reasonable, i smell a bit of the malt which is used.

The taste is not spectacular, also the mouthfeel.

I drank the beer during a game of cards. Then it's very drinkable. (491 characters)

Picked up at a bottle shop in San Fran, might have been old because while it looked and smelled okay, the taste was just off, and certainly not worthy of the praise this one typically gets. Would be willing to try again though. (228 characters)

Appearance: Pours a clear amber-brown, and forms a thick, fluffy light tan head with excellent retention. Lacing is somewhat insane.

Smell: Sticky buns with raisins throughout, fresh from the oven and just finished glazing, all bread and sweetness and fruit.

Taste: Sweetness is the primary characteristic, and it is present in abundance, from the first moments of the sip all the way to the finish. The sweetness is definitely bready as well, alongside a sort of coppery, metallic twang. There's a not insignificant amount of noble hops in this beer, which lends a slightly medicinal taste to the sweetness, and an oddly bitter finish and aftertaste for a doppelbock. I get no fruit or nut aspects from the flavor, possibly due to the hop factor.

Mouthfeel: This beer doesn't exactly deliver the sort of thick, creamy, sticky mouthfeel I associate with a doppelbock, instead drinking more like a bock.

Overall: Being perfectly honest, this isn't my favorite doppelbock, nor do I classify it in the same tier as Korbinian and Celebrator. This drinks more like a maibock, and it'd be a pretty darned good one. (1,167 characters)

I'll start off by saying that I had really high hopes for this beer, it being ranked highest of the doppelbocks on BA and all. But I really wasnt impressed.

Pours a beautiful red, almost wine-red with a thick head with large bubles lasting for quite some time and leaving a good bit of lacing on the glass.

I smell a lot of fudge, a bit of dark fruits, but not as much as I had hoped for, some raisins, a little bit of figs as well though, not too intense smell of anything though.

On the taste departement I was dissapointed, while still smelling fairly promising I thnk this (highly praised) beer did not deliver. I get an initial sweetness, followed by a musty breadiness that carries the beer all the way to and through the aftertaste . Some small hints of fruits and hops in the middle ,but really not very prominent.

Soft carbonation and a creamy foam-up on the toungue makes it fairly easy to drink. (910 characters)

Even mouthfeel, a bit slick, finishes somewhat powdery and dry. Tasty beer, decent drinkability, but could use more complexity. I expected much more based on the over-the-top reviews. Thanks to BuckeyeNation for sharing. (608 characters)

A - Poured a clear caramel/copper-colored body with thin beige head that reduced to a patchy veil and left a bit of lacing.

S - Malty sweetness with a dark fruit character and lots of sweet notes reminiscent of maple syrup, brown sugar and molasses. Bitterness is virtually non-existent.

T - Initial flavor is extremely sweet and candy-like. Tastes like a Sugar Daddy... remember those caramel lollipops? Plenty of toffee, caramel and molasses, this is malty to the core. Actually, it's a bit too sweet overall.

M - Medium bodied with a thick, syrupy texture and soft carbonation. Not much bitterness at all. Extremely sweet on the tongue.

D - Overly sweet and very candy-like, this is a pretty good Dopplebock overall. But the best ever? Hmmmm. We sampled this side by side with Celebrator, and this definitely fell short. (897 characters)

This is a darkbrown and deep red beer with a coarse head that collapses in a couple of minutes into a thin layer sticking to the glass.

Smell is malty and defenitely bottom fermented with some sulfuric notes, a roasted and burned taste with some chocolate, caramel and cocao whiffs. Also some vanilla comes through after intensive sniffing. All smells very heavy and full-bodied, a true all-grain beer.

Taste is even more intense than the smell, a big malt backbone with a caramellic top-layer, burned or toasted in a mild way and a maltbitter. Some vanilla makes it taste like a good icecream. Nothing too extra-ordinairy, but decent. I don't really inderstand why this such a fantastic beer.
I think the body of the beer is too heavy which seriously inhibits the drinkability of the beer, it is just too sweet and sticky. (831 characters)

APPEARANCE: Pours a medium sized off-white head that is very thin for the style. Head quickly dissipates to a very thin film, but soon everything vanishes. Colour is dark brown, like sienna or burnt umber. Next to zero carbonation evident.

SMELL: A medium scent of caramel malt and toffee. A slight hint of spiciness in the nose as well, which is nice. Not bad, though it could be stronger.

TASTE: Some sweet caramel malt, toffee, and some sweet wood in there as well. Very sweet and malty initially. Aftertaste is mild but long lasting, including some sweet wood and some spiciness, with a touch of hop bitterness at the end. Alcohol is very well hidden. Nice and relatively well balanced, but a bit too weak.

PALATE: Thinner bodied with lower end carbonation. Smooth on the palate, goes down smooth with a little bite at the end. Finishes with the right amount of stickiness on the palate.

OVERALL: Quite drinkable, goes down very easy, but unfortunately it's not quite memorable. Kind of neutral and overrated in my view. This is one I'd have again, but wouldn't go out of my way to find. (1,169 characters)

Bottle from World Wide SpiritsBest by 2012-09-20Poured into a Celebrator doppelbock glass

Finally able to try the celebrated Andechser doppelbock, I find myself generally disappointed with this bottle's qualities. While I'm not sure as to how the bottle itself was stored at WWS, the date indicates that it should still be fresh enough to be interesting. The maltiness of the beer was mildly complex, but nothing above standard for a doppelbock, and the flavors and aromas were, in general, not robust enough. I'm not sure what this means as far as brewing techniques go, and while I'd give this another chance on tap at the brewery, I don't think I'd go to the same extent for another bottle, given that Celebrator and/or Maximator are usually easily available and more delicious for me.

Pours a modest 2cm head of dense foam, small bubbles, light tan in color. Had has average retention and leaves some modest lacing along sides of glass as it reduces to a thin ring around the glass. Body is a transparent red-brown amber color with visible, though sluggish, carbonation.

Aroma of prunes, dates, and very dark bread, slight yeast, and caramel. Pleasant, but not particularly bold: subtle and subdued. Not what I was expecting after reading reviews and the high status of the beer.

Tasting opens with sweetness, almost cordial-like with some tones of cherries. Dark, dried fruit esters are abundant throughout. Mid-palate ads in brown sugar, dried figs, and dates, with a bit of a sage+chocolate flavor that is rather noticeable and at times actually a bit unpleasant. Not sure if the bottle I had was exposed or had some other defect. Closes with drying, slightly spicy phenols and malt sweetness. Aftertaste is largely bready and sweet, with a bit of light brown sugar. Overall, though there are many flavors, none of them are as bold or expressive as I would expect a top doppelbock to be, and I'm left rather disappointed.

Beer is medium bodied with moderate carbonation, creating a smooth mouthfeel that's a bit pillowy and creamy. Slightly warming from ethanol, but this is expected. Finishes dry with some stickiness on the lips. (2,145 characters)

Don't think I've ever been so mesmorised by a beer while pouring it. With its rich deep brown colour and deep rich tan head, it certainly is one the most gorgeous beers I've ever seen. As a result I nearly spilt four or five mouthfuls just by gawking at the damn thing. On the nose there was almost a burnt bready woody medicinal smell. On the tongue it is pretty dry, vinous with a flavour reminiscent of treacle and molasses. Tasty but it does not have the richness of classic Aventinus and I can't help but feel as if it was almost closed like a young tannic wine. Makes it slightly on the stern side as well. Very good but despite its initial promise in the end it flatters to deceive. (690 characters)

T: The taste is better than the smell would have you believe. It's not overly sweet, but here's still plenty of malty sweetness. I like how the expected caramel and bready malts are complimented by roasted malts and coffee - interesting and not very common. Lots of date-like fruity notes. Wood and a subtle herbal hop note. The finish is mildly bitter with a well integrated alcohol flavor and lingering malts.

M: Rather full bodied and very smooth. Quite a lot of carbonation.

D: As for doppelbocks go - a style I sometimes have a hard time dealing with due to the cloying sweetness some of them showcase - this is one of the better I've had. The sweetness is not overly powerful and the "dunkel element" in this one adds lots of levels and flavors. Nicely balanced. But still, it's not the most interesting beer in the world, and after one bottle I've had more than enough. (1,109 characters)

Served on-draught into a .5 litre Andechs glass in Germany. Reviewed from notes taken June 2010.

A: Pours a 2.5 finger head of lovely cream and thickness. Great retention. Colour is a dark ruby. Nontransparent.

Sm: Dark fruit, caramel, chocolate, and pleasant dark esters.

T: Dark fruit, caramel, layered beautiful yet minimal hops. Brilliant shining esters (but not berry) on the climax. The full-bodied barley body is subtle and well malted. Very well balanced and built. No alcohol comes through. Perhaps a touch too sweet, but I quite like it.

Dr: Very easy to drink, even refreshing. A fantastic Doppelbock - definitely one of the best I've ever had. Give her a spin; you won't be disappointed. I'd have to have a side by side, but I think I prefer this to Celebrator.